Auburn University on Thursday announced new limits on the number of students whose independent study work can be supervised by a single professor, and announced the removal of two administrators (who retain their tenured faculty slots). The changes follow a report in The New York Times that large numbers of athletes were taking "directed studies" with the same professor and earning significantly higher grades on that work than in regular courses.

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Auburn University on Thursday announced new limits on the number of students whose independent study work can be supervised by a single professor, and announced the removal of two administrators (who retain their tenured faculty slots). The changes follow a report in The New York Times that large numbers of athletes were taking "directed studies" with the same professor and earning significantly higher grades on that work than in regular courses. Auburn officials characterized the changes announced Thursday as dealing with academic problems, not athletic ones.

The student-loan company Nelnet announced Thursday that the Education Department's Office of Inspector General was contending that it had received overpayments on certain loans. The company disputes the findings and is responding to the draft in hopes of influencing a final decision on the report.

The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators has released a new statement denouncing the advertising campaign being used by MyRichUncle, a new lender trying to shake up the student loan market. The aid group said that the new company's campaign discourages students from trusting their aid officers. MyRichUncle's ads suggest that aid officials at some campuses are trying to steer students to certain loans, based on cozy arrangements between lenders and aid officers.